Zsombor Barta and Noah Steinberg: Budapest Smart City

Zsombor Barta MRICS and Noah Steinberg FRICS are behind the move by Budapest to establish itself as a world leading Smart City by 2030.

25 January 2018

The Budapest Smart Vision, co-authored by Zsombor Barta, President of the Hungary Green Building Council and Noah Steinberg FRICS, Chair of the Hungarian RICS Board, and adopted by the city, sets out how modern technology will improve life in Budapest by establishing the city as a knowledge hub, improve the environment and boost the local economy.

The pair first cooperated with one another for the Budapest 2024 Olympic bid. Whilst Hungary withdrew its Olympic bid, the work the duo conducted on creating a sustainable Olympic games gave way to the SBV.

The vision

In the vision, which has now been adopted by the municipality of Budapest, the authors set out how Budapest can become a smart city and the subsequent benefits to the local economy and environment.

One of the main features of the vision is to improve the mobility of the city to reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2030. To do this, the FUTAR traffic management system was launched in the autumn of 2014. Its continuous tracking of traffic not only gives real-time passenger information, but also allows the traffic lights to alter during peak congestion to give priority to the means of public transport.

Another project that emerged from the SBV is the Graphisoft Park that was established as a hub for technology companies. The park now hosts several national and international firms as well as a university campus. In addition, a three-year tree planting programme was launched in 2016 with the aim of planting 10,000 trees by 2019.

Responsible for International Relations at the National Council for Sustainable Development Hungary and experienced in measuring the carbon emissions produced by buildings, Zsombor acted as Head of Sustainability for the SBV project. As Chairman of RICS in Hungary, Noah was able to apply his knowledge of the real issues that Budapest faces and his expertise in dealing with the public and private sector, to ensure the vision can be successfully realised.

Zsombor and Noah’s vision will ensure that the development of the Budapest city and all upcoming projects will be based on the principles agreed in the vision. It will not only increase the liveability of the city, but it will also ensure that the economy and future real estate are developed sustainably.

Pride in the Profession

2018 marks the 150th anniversary of RICS. To celebrate this milestone, we're launching our Pride in the Profession initiative to showcase the significant and positive impact surveyors have made to society. We've already dug into the archives to find some exceptional examples, like the one above. By promoting these incredible people and projects we want to demonstrate how varied and rewarding a surveying career can be.

To make it happen, we need you to nominate the people and projects you admire most.